THE coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic was the third leading cause of deaths in the country in the first 10 months of 2021, according to data released yesterday by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
The PSA report indicated that COVID-19 (identified) accounted for 51,514 deaths, or an 8.5 percent share, rising from rank 15 with 7,357 deaths (1.4 percent share) during the same period in 2020.
Taking the top spot was ischaemic heart diseases with 110,332 cases or 18.3 percent of the total deaths in the country. This is 28 percent higher than the 86,164 deaths or 16.9 percent of the total deaths in 2020.
Cerebrovascular diseases came in second with 58,880 deaths (9.7 percent share) from being third in the previous year’s ranking. It showed an increase of 10.9 percent from the 53,082 cases (10.4 percent share) in the same period in 2020.
The PSA data also showed there were 23,771 or 3.9 percent of the total deaths from January to October 2021 indicating the cause to be COVID-19 but were not confirmed (not identified) cases. Such entry was ranked as the eighth leading cause of death in the country.
Taken together, registered deaths due to COVID-19, both identified and unconfirmed, accounted for 75,285 deaths or 12.5 percent of the total registered deaths from January to October 2021.
The combined number is higher than the deaths caused by cerebrovascular diseases which ranked second.
According to the PSA report, COVID-19-virus identified is used when COVID-19 is confirmed by a laboratory test, while COVID-19-virus not identified is used for suspected or probable cases as well as clinically-epidemiologically diagnosed COVID-19 cases where testing was not completed or inconclusive.
“Figures in this release, specifically for deaths due to COVID-19, may differ from the one released by the Department of Health (DOH) because the figures in this release were obtained from the certificates of death particularly the descriptions written on the medical certificate portion therein as reviewed by the health officer of the local government unit concerned. On the other hand, the figures released by the DOH were obtained through a surveillance system,” the PSA said.
It added that the figures for deaths due to COVID-19 refer to both confirmed and probable cases as of registration.
The PSA said that among the 17 regions, the National Capital Region (NCR) registered the highest number of deaths due to COVID-19 with 18,044 or 24 percent of the total COVID-19 deaths from January to October 2021. Calabarzon ranked second with 16,630 deaths (22.1 percent), while Central Luzon came in third with 14,252 deaths (18.9 percent).
On the other hand, the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao reported the least number of registered COVID-19 deaths with only 80 cases.
In NCR, Quezon City reported the highest number of deaths due to coronavirus, with 3,955 deaths or 21.9 percent of the total deaths in the region for the covered period.
This was followed by the cities of Manila and Pasig with 2,558 (14.2 percent) and 1,832 (10.2 percent), respectively.
